Sunday, November 28, 2010

Very entertaining Panthers game today, for a change. I was in Cleveland watching it, and I enjoyed the back-and-forth of it and the fact that Carolina rushed for a season-high 151 yards and tied its season high for points -- those were good things. But since it was still a 24-23 loss to Cleveland, it's time for the traditional "5 things I didn't like":

1. Going for two (or not). I know it's easy to second-guess now. But even when it was happening early in the third quarter I thought John Fox was making a mistake by not going for two points when Captain Munnerlyn scored on a 37-yard interception return to cut Cleveland's lead to 21-19.I know the conventional wisdom is to never go for a two-pointer until the fourth quarter, but why should a 1-10 team care about conventional wisdom? The Panthers struggle so hard to score TDs (they have 11 offensive TDs in 11 games). So when you have a chance to tie the game, you must take it instead of kicking an extra point.If Carolina had made that two-pointer, all John Kasay's 42-yard miss on the last play of the game would have meant was that it was time for overtime.

2. Kasay's kick. I know Cleveland Browns Stadium is a tough place for a kicker, but Kasay had already knocked two through from almost the same distance on the same side of the field. The veteran almost always comes through in those situations -- this time he didn't, ruining an incredible drive for the Panthers in the final minute.

3. David Gettis. The rookie continues to be a feast-or-famine receiver. After an 88-yard TD last week, he didn't catch a single pass Sunday and was never targeted by Clausen. Now Clausen wasn't looking downfield much, but still...

4. Slow defensive starts. Carolina's defense played well in the second half -- actually outscoring the Browns' offense 7-3 in that half. But the first part of the game was awful, as the Panthers allowed three TDs in Cleveland's first four possessions. And Peyton Hillis (194 total yards, 3 TDs) kept simply running over and through Panthers.

5. Penalties. Carolina had 8 for 68, and three of them early gave the Browns third-down conversions just when it seemed like the Panther D had gotten off the field.

As a huge Panthers fan, I hope they lose the rest of their games so that we can get the first draft pick in Andrew Luck, out of Stanford, next year and start new with a promising quarterback and a good new coach. Maybe Harbaugh will come with him...that dude is intense.

Right call not going for two. It was the wrong call years ago in the Super Bowl when we went for two too early, and it was the right call today. Kasay for 42 to win is all you can ask for; the only shame is that he didn't hit it.

We lost because our genius head coach and offensive coordinator continually settled for field goal attempts instead of trying for touchdowns. You were 1-9 and 5 weeks away from unemployment. What did you have to lose?

Scott, on occasion all of us make decisions that are questionable. For example, you decided to pick the Dallas Cowboys to win the Superbowl this year. The COWBOYS!?!?! I think everyone has a right to make a terrible decision every now and then. Even you.

Like I said last week, the five things that I don't like about the Panther's Organization:1) Jerry Richardson2) Marty Hurney3) Don Gregory4) Danny Morrison5) The Observer(they are on Carolina's secret pay roll)

You haven't been missing out on much Gunny...but thanks for all you do over there.

As far as the BUST from App, he has only been active for one or two games this year. Trading our 2011 2nd round pick (which will be second pick of 2nd round) to trade up to the 3rd round to select A. Edwards (a project pick)is the worst draft day mistake that Fox and Hurney had ever made. The idiot wasn't ever projected as a 5th round pick!!

Gunny,AE hasn't been given a chance to do much of anything. One of the few times they let him touch the ball, he picked up a quick 7 yards, which was more than the QB had done! Now, Fox just keeps him inactive . . . which makes a great deal of sense for a 1-10 team. :(

Fox is an idiot, the quarterback sucks, the kicker is horrible. Our local highschool just got beat in the state playoff game but the quarterback is better than the Panthers and yes our kicker made a 42 yard kick and some others. Sign this kid and get rid of the loser.

"As a huge Panthers fan, I hope they lose the rest of their games so that we can get the first draft pick in Andrew Luck, out of Stanford, next year and start new with a promising quarterback and a good new coach. Maybe Harbaugh will come with him...that dude is intense".

You said you are a huge Panthers fan, but you want them to lose the rest of their games? Thats some stupid shit I ever heard of.

You and along others will throw Luck under the bus after 4-5 games.

What makes Luck so special? Was Clausen getting some praise until seeing him play just to get thrown under the bus?

Hey lets draft a QB for the next 5 years until they get it right? Clausen besides the int has showed alot of poise, to bad John K picked the wrong time to miss a field goal.

Drafting another QB would show that they have given up on Clausen after 5 games. Losing his confidence, never given a real chance with a good to great coaching staff who can adjust, game plan, and develop young talent(Qb and WR). Not with a lame duck coaching staff at best.

Thanks for your service and for checking in on Edwards. The Panthers are trying to make a great QB into a receiver because they can't get it through their thick collective heads that you don't have to be 6'3" to complete passes or run plays in the NFL.

Of course, they haven't figured out how to make their 6' 3" QBs into passers or play makers either, though today JC showed he was almost as good as Jake Delhomme.

Oh, and the idiots on this board are the guys who call their betters idiots.

Funny how idiot writers like Sorensen aka Sorehead now befriends and admires Jake D when he did nothing but trash him for yrs & led the charge to run him off like he did many others including Shinn way back but then sucks up after they are gone and re-successful? What a joke. Whats up with this idiot? Whos he kidding? He hates your fking guts while you in town but then after he runs you off hes your pal? Sounds like a 2 face pos sucko. Cant the CO do better? Dont answer. How about cleaning floors & restrooms?

1. Be fooled by the flashes of Clausen if you like but....Get Cam Newton if we get the #1 pick, that's where he's going. He's not tearing up the Pac10 in a down year like Luck, he's tearing up the SEC. He's bigger, faster, and has an arm. Don't be on the wrong side of McNair/K. Collins all over again. If you believe in Clausen fine, let them duke it out in camp every team needs two...look at the eagles.

2. Thanks to injuries, Mike Goodson has trade value - get draft picks like the Pats

3. This is hard but, Steve Smith deserves better - trade him and get picks.We're the youngest team in the league embrace it.

Cam has 24 TD passes, Luck has 28. Cam has 18 rushing TDs, Luck has 3. Pac10, 2 team in the top 25, SEC has 6. What's your excuse? He's as big as Josh Freeman, but faster, arm as strong as Bradford but taller. Mechanics better with a quicker release than Tebow's

As far as impatient fanbase, there are no expectations, the contender days of delhomme and peppers are gone - youngest team in the league, build through the draft. Clausen may develop but what if he doesn't...panthers please don't overthink this one - its a no brainer

wow...you guys are sooo on top of this offense thing...if Joe F'n Montana fell into a time machine and came out again next year, he would do us no good as first or second pick...we need to do three things before we judge ANY of our QB's to harshly...1.) We need more than 3 pass plays in the playbook... ("ok everybody go long" might be a better option)

2.) Somebody needs to block somebody... (at this point, don't have to hit ALL the Blocks, any 2 or 3 would be an improvement)

3.) Catch the damn ball... 'nuff said.

All in all, we can run next year for 5 to 8 wins IF (big if) we aren't so predictable and can get some line blocking. Let's draft the big run stopper threat DT, a good DEPENDABLE (sorry Jeffery O) OL, or something that will push us from 1 to 8 wins, baby steps people!

Actually Cowher or Gruden may not want the job that could soil risk or jeopardize their winning reputation. Giants DC Fox was the only guy who would take over 8 yrs ago after a 1-15 record. In that case Grimm may be OK. Beggars cant be choosy.

I'm going to go ahead and post my thoughts here, although it's obvious Scott doesn't read the comments, based on the fact that a post from some coward named "anonymous" on November 28, 2010 11:43 PM, complete with obscenity, is still sitting here.

Scott said, "If Carolina had made that two-pointer, all John Kasay's 42-yard miss on the last play of the game would have meant was that it was time for overtime."

Therein lies the problem, Scott. WE WOULD NOT HAVE MADE IT. We pretty much never do. And like the earlier commenter said, it was wrong to do so in the 3rd quarter of the Super Bowl, and it would have been wrong to do it in the third quarter Sunday. The TV announcers also were baffled that we didn't go for 2. Y'all are so married to that stupid chart that says, regardless of game circumstance, you go for 1 whenever the margin is ___ and you go for 2 whenever the margin is ___. God, I wish someone would confiscate all copies of that chart and burn them.

Remember, if we hadn't played that stupid 2-pointer mess in the Super Bowl, the Pats would have been down 3, not tied, when they got the ball on the last drive.